gw1 is famous for the fact that you haven't had your build complete when you got to max level
gw2 isn't different:

-) you won't have all the heal-, utility- and eliteskills when you reach max. level. Quote: "The healing, utility, and elite skills (seen below) are now unlocked with skill points. Skill points can be acquired by undertaking what we call a skill challenge. There are 200 skill challenges in the game, and they range from defeating tough opponents, to answering riddles, to drinking a particularly potent drink.

-) same thing with traits: traits are modifiers for the skills you use, they change them in a small or big way. AoEs can become single target hitters or a shadowstep can cripple your foe. These traits will be there for you to find them too, even long after you reached max. level.

So 2 big points how you can progress after hitting the lv80 mark. Don't know why no one mentioned it yet. Its a way to develop your build to your liking; I think Blizzard wanted to do this with the Path of Titans before they scrapped it...

This is what the typical MMO endgame is all about and these pictures best describes it.

Themepark developers are in a no-win situation when it comes to the endgame. Grinders will always blow through content much faster than it can be created, and it will never be cost-effective to retain enough designers to satisfy the min/max crowd.

The solution to this, in an ideal world, is player-generated content (and that's another Soapbox).The solution to this -- thus far in the genre's lifespan at least -- has been to draw the grind out, or add additional grinds and give them a marketing-friendly label (Age of Conan's "horizontal progression" via alternate advancement abilities, for example).

If you think about it, though, "endgame" is exactly what the name implies: the end.

As in, you're done.

Finished.

It's over.

There's nothing new to see.

Everything you do from that point on will be something you've already done.

Your MMO-related choices are to a) do the gear/raid grind and consume the same content again and again, b) find another class or game and consume very similar content again and again, or c) find a sandbox game and create your own content (or content for others).

But what about new content patches, you say? They're worth sticking around for, right? Well I don't know, you tell me. Is it more of the same carrot chase, and do you grind through it and go right back to complaining about a lack of endgame?

That's probably why it's called endgame, no? Unless you're madly in love with that particular title's aesthetics, it's time to seek greener pastures. A lot of people don't though; They stick around and grind out epic armor sets, whine about the speed and frequency of new content updates (which, by the way, are the exact same treadmill exercises as the old content updates), and generally burn themselves out on MMORPGs.